NORSEMEN AND ESKIMOES 3 



distances travelled by the Norse colonists pre- 

 sumably in search of seals and other animals. 

 Christianity was introduced soon after the arrival 

 of the first colonists; the first of a long line of 

 bishops was appointed, and churches were built. 

 In 1261 the Republic of Greenland became part 

 of the powerful Norwegian kingdom, which also 

 included the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the 

 Faroes, Iceland, and the Isle of Man. For a time 

 the new colony flourished, but about the middle 

 of the fourteenth century, owing to various causes, 

 communication with the home country practically 

 ceased and a period of decline ensued. It was 

 probably in the thirteenth century that the Norse- 

 men first came into contact with the Eskimoes, or 

 Skraellings as they were then called. Accounts 

 have been handed down of fights between the 

 natives and the Icelanders and excavations have 

 brought to light Norse skulls transfixed by stone 

 arrow-heads of a type that is still found among the 

 debris of old Eskimo settlements. Though precise 

 information is lacking, it is probable that the Norse- 

 men ceased to exist in Greenland more than three 

 hundred years ago. When Martin Frobisher and 

 John Davis landed in Greenland in 1578 and 1585 

 respectively, no Norsemen were seen. 



In the early part of the eighteenth century Hans 

 Egede, a pastor in Norway and the son of a Dane, 

 was able to gratify his desire to visit Greenland in 

 search of descendants of the original settlers. He 

 sailed from Bergen on May 3, 1721, in the'Haabe' 

 (the 'Hope'). Hans Egede felt that it would be 



